Written Answers

Monday 4 June 2001

Scottish Executive

Child Protection

Mr Michael McMahon (Hamilton North and Bellshill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to take forward the proposals in its paper Protecting Children: Securing their Safety – a pre-legislative consultation paper on the establishment of an index of adults unsuitable to work with children.

Mr Jack McConnell: Consultation responses showed support for the proposal to set up an index of adults unsuitable to work with children. I have published today a policy position paper, which confirms our intention to proceed with legislation to create the index, and responds to comments received during consultation. Copies of this paper, Protecting Children: the next steps towards securing their safety , have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

  Following this final round of consultation, I hope to introduce necessary legislation at an early opportunity if the parliamentary timetable permits.

Health

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much money the NHSiS has recovered from April 1999 to date from insurance companies for the treatment of casualties of road traffic accidents.

Susan Deacon: Up to and including 22 May 2001, a total of £7,151,915 has been recovered from insurance companies for treating casualties of road traffic accidents. Amounts recovered are remitted monthly to the Scottish NHS Trusts that treated the accident victims concerned.

Health

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many invoices have been raised against insurance companies for the treatment road traffic accidents under the centralised cost recovery arrangements announced in April 1999 to replace the Emergency Treatment Fee.

Susan Deacon: Up to and including 22 May 2001, a total of 21,125 invoices have been issued to insurance companies in respect of treatment provided at NHS hospital in Scotland.

  The centralised cost recovery arrangements have not in fact simply replaced the Emergency Treatment Fee (ETF) arrangements. They replaced the previous arrangements by which individual Trusts could seek to recover all or part of the costs where an accident victim goes on to make a successful claim in respect of personal injury. Whilst, under the centralised arrangements, Trusts may not charge ETFs it is still open to general medical practitioners to do so.

Health

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been raised from April 1999 to date from insurance companies for the treatment of road accident patients (a) in accident and emergency departments and (b) who were admitted to hospital following the accident.

Susan Deacon: Up to and including 22 May 2001, the recoverable NHS charges for treating casualties in road accidents has totalled £3,884,689 for outpatient treatments and £3,267,226 for inpatient treatment.

  The charges, payable by insurance companies, are recoverable only when an accident victim makes a successful claim in respect of personal injury.

National Parks

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15518 by Rhona Brankin on 15 May 2001, when the draft designation order for the Cairngorms National Park will be published and who will be included in the further consultation process.

Rhona Brankin: The SNH consultation report on proposals for a Cairngorms National Park is to be submitted to the Scottish Ministers on 13 July. Following consideration of that report we intend to bring forward a draft designation Order for consultation in late autumn.

  As this is a National Park we are committed to ensuring that all interest groups, organisations and individuals who wish to comment are provided with the opportunity to do so. The draft Order will be widely circulated, posted on the Scottish Executive website and made available to anyone requesting it.

Special Educational Needs

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many special educational needs lecturing staff are employed (a) in each further education (FE) college and (b) per thousand FE college students.

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many special educational needs support staff are employed (a) in each further education (FE) college and (b) per thousand FE college students.

Ms Wendy Alexander: This information is not held centrally.

Special Educational Needs

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is given to further education colleges regarding support for students with special educational needs.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive provides guidance to the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) on the strategic priorities for the further education sector, including support for students with special educational needs. Specific guidance was recently issued on the focus of the £4.5 million provided to take forward the inclusiveness agenda for students with additional support needs in the further education sector, as set out in the recommendations of the Beattie Committee.

  Under the funding methodology for colleges used by SFEFC, colleges receive additional funding in respect of students who either require to attend a special programme or who require additional support to undertake a mainstream course.

  SOED Circular (FE) 1/94 describes the circumstances in which a college may claim additional funding for students with special educational needs. It also sets out what a college is expected to provide for that student. In particular, that a Personal Learning Support Plan (PLSP) must exist for each student and be available for audit. The PLSP provides an assessment of a student’s needs and attainments, together with an educational programme and record of support measures.

  Colleges can also look to the four ACCESS Centres in Scotland, based at Aberdeen, Motherwell and Stevenson Colleges, and the University of Dundee, for training, guidance and information, as well as support for students with a physical or sensory disability or learning difficulty.

Special Educational Needs

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the performance of further education colleges is monitored with regard to students with special educational needs.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive holds regular meetings with the Scottish Further Education Funding Council, to monitor its performance in taking forward Executive priorities, as set out in Ministerial Guidance. This includes the support colleges give to students with special educational needs.

  Further education colleges are required to submit student activity data to the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) each year. This will include information about students with special educational needs for whom a college is claiming additional funding. The council will check returns and visit a number of colleges each year, including to check the existence and nature of Personal Learning Support Plans for students with a physical or sensory disability or learning difficulty.

  SFEFC is shortly to publish its revised Quality Framework, which will apply to colleges in academic year 2001-02. The framework includes quality indicators relating to facilities that colleges have in place to support access (including access for people with disabilities) and arrangements for students with learning difficulties and disabilities (which covers a range of issues from identification of needs to staff development and individualised curricula).

Special Educational Needs

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets are set for further education colleges with regard to students with special educational needs.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Through the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992, further education colleges are required to have regard to the requirements of persons over school age with learning difficulties. Scottish Ministers provide guidance to the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) on the priorities for the further education sector, including issues related to disadvantaged groups. The Scottish Executive has recently issued guidance on the focus of the £4.5 million provided to take forward the inclusiveness agenda for students with additional support needs in the further education sector, as set out in the Beattie Committee recommendations. The use of the funding provided to SFEFC to address these priorities is monitored through regular meetings with the Executive.

  Although neither the Scottish Executive nor the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) currently set targets for further education colleges for any category of student, including those with special educational needs, SFEFC plans to review how it can effectively and relevantly measure progress towards social inclusion. This will enable it to consider appropriate future targets for widening participation.

Tourism

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why information about traditional arts, culture and the Scots language is not available on the visitscotland website.

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether visitscotland will maximise the potential of Scottish traditional arts, culture and language to attract overseas visitors by highlighting them on its website.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: Decisions about the content of the website are an operational matter for visitscotland. The website links in to other sites that provide much of this information. visitscotland is currently redeveloping the website form, content and links.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Recycling

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Presiding Officer what materials used by the Parliament are subsequently recycled; how much of each material is sent for recycling, and what targets the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has for future recycling.

Sir David Steel: The Parliament recycles approximately eight tonnes of waste paper per month. It also has procedures in place for the recycling of aluminium cans, vending cups, cardboard, toner cartridges and is considering an outlet for recycling glass.

  The SPCB is currently collating data on recycled waste to enable a baseline figure to be established. Only then can realistic waste management targets be set.

Recycling

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West): To ask the Presiding Officer what targets the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) set for the recycling of office materials in the Parliament; how much was recycled in each year since May 1999, and what the SPCB’s future targets are.

Sir David Steel: The Parliament recycles approximately eight tonnes of waste paper per month. It also has procedures in place for the recycling of aluminium cans, vending cups, cardboard, toner cartridges and is considering an outlet for recycling glass.

  The SPCB is currently collating data on recycled waste to enable a baseline figure to be established. Only then can realistic waste management targets be set.